COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A significant change is coming to Columbus Public Health, aimed at making medical records more accessible and efficient.   The new system is designed to better connect patient records with a broader network of healthcare providers.   On Monday, Columbus City Council passed an ordinance that would allow the city to partner with the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center to integrate the city’s existing records onto the EPIC system.   That system - which many already utilize as My Chart -will allow those seen or treated by Columbus Public Health to have records connecting to other health systems in the EPIC family.   Columbus City Councilmember Melissa Green said the move will make the system more efficient which would save taxpayer dollars.  “About 30 cents of every dollar you spend on healthcare costs directly to administrative and that’s because we have outdated systems, record systems that don’t connect to one another, don’t integrate with one another,” Green said. “So, we’re able to reduce the cost of doing business in that area. We can provide higher quality services to patients, coordinate better to adjust people‘s needs, but we can also decrease those costs for consumers.”   A statement from Columbus Public Health said centralizing patient health records will ultimately provide real-time access to information for better diagnosis and treatment.   The agency said, in part, “It [EPIC] also will integrate administrative tasks like billing and scheduling and improve patient outcomes by allowing 290 users across our department, including 15 physicians and advanced practice providers, to focus on patient care.”   Green said transitioning those records to the new EPIC system will not happen overnight; the project should be complete by 2026.  ...read more read less